Sunday, August 9, 1998 Last modified at 1:29 a.m. on Sunday, August 9, 1998

UTMB proposes virus center

GALVESTON (AP) - A center that would house and test some of this hemisphere's most fearsome viruses could become a reality if a University of Texas Medical Branch proposal materializes.

The UTMB laboratory, which would adhere to the highest security designation set by the federal Centers for Disease Control, would be one of just a few worldwide. Researchers there would look for treatments for certain viruses.

The approval process steps up in November, when the board of regents considers funding. The earliest construction likely could begin is 2002.

First, UTMB must plan a series of public forums to test the public's opinion on such a lab facility on Galveston Island. An overly negative reaction likely will kill the project, said Adrian Perachio, UTMB's associate vice president for basic research.

"It would really put us way out in front, not just on the edge," Perachio said. "We would be the edge."

The center is projected to cost between $5 million and $7.5 million, but isn't expected to have much economic impact on Galveston. It would give Texas the only ultra-secure lab studying viruses that pervade the Western Hemisphere.

Perachio cautioned that many of the viruses aren't as exotic as those portrayed in fiction, such as the disaster movie "Outbreak."

"These are viruses that exist in Texas and the Southwest," he said. He added that all viruses that would be studied already exist in nature.